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Frederick Underwood
Frederick Douglass Underwood, also known as "Old Fred", (February 1, 1849 — 1942), was the president of the Erie Railroad Company, a major eastern trunk railroad. He was the son of Enoch Underwood and was married in 1875 to Sarah Smith, with whom he had two sons, Enoch William and Russell Sage. Biography Fredrick Douglass Underwood was born in his parents' farmhouse out near the county line on February 1, 1849. Young Fred attended school in Wauwatosa and then went to Wayland Academy in Beaver Dam. He left school and worked in various jobs in Green Bay for two years. In 1869 he hired out as a brakeman on the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad. Six years later he had advanced to assistant Superintendent of the Milwaukee Division. The next year he was appointed Twin Cities Division Superintendant. In 1885 a syndicate was projecting a new railroad from Minneapolis northwestward into the Dakotas The financial backing came from the Canadian Pacific Railroad which was run by William Van Horn (later Sir William, Mr. Van Horn had been Frederick Underwood's immediate superior on the Milwaukee Road and had been impressed with his ability. So he recommended that the Tosan be put in charge of constructing and running this new railroad (now called the Soo Line). While President he clashed with the mighty mogul himself, James J. Hill, President of the Great Northern Railroad. At one place in North Dakota he had to gather 25 men with rifles and rip up Hill's tracks and stand guard until his road's tracks had been laid. His reputation had grown and Hill was glad to help him get a new job in 1899 as Vice President and General Manager of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. This also got him away from the Minneapolis area. P. Morgan now gauged his ability and two years later asked him to become President of the Erie Railroad. When he took over it was a motoriously inefficient road, the butt of many jokes. He did a fine job of building up the road for 25 years. The annual revenue increased from $40.7 million to $118.5 million, and $174 million had been spent on permanent improvements. Towards the end of his tenure he was elected Chairman of the Erie's Executive Board. During years with the various railroads, Fred Underwood always called Wauwatosa home. While president of the Erie he returned often in his private car named the "Wauwatosa" and parked it in a siding near the depot. Often he met with Fred Sporleder, who built many houses for him. Back in 1888 when the second Baptist Church was nearing completion, F. D. Underwood paid $3000 for the old church building and lot. He altered the building by removing fixtures and laid a level floor. He let the Wauwatosa Light Guard use it as an armory. On the farmland on the north side of North Avenue, he maintained a prize herd of beef cattle. Later he expanded this land westward to 89th St. by purchasing the Luther Clapp and E. Gilbert farms. His father's house on the northeast corner of North and Wauwatosa Avenues was sold on Feb. 12, 1907 to the Lutheran Altenheim Society. Mr. Underwood purchased all the property from North to Stickney Avenues and westward for some 600 ft. In 1905 he built two substantial houses in the southeast corner, he moved his old farm home (where he was born) and built several other homes in this quadrangle. This included his two story, frame and stucco "summer home". He surrounded the entire area with a high concrete wall along North Avenue and a high steel fence (still there) along Wauwatosa and for 230 ft. along Stickney. Just before this wall was built in 1915 he moved the old church building from the corner to its present location in Wauwatosa Cemetery. In conjunction with this project he deeded 10 acres of his land to the cemetery (extending it all the way to 80th Street), and he spent several thousand dollars to build a new concrete foundation, new front doors, new tile roof and other rehabilitation to turn the building into a memorial chapel. He drew up an agreement with the cemetery to split the cost of future maintenance cost on the structure. On December 31, 1926, he retired from the Erie RR. He continued to live in New York even though his wife, the former Sarah Virginia Smith, had died in 1919. His eldest son Enoch William Underwood with his wife Alice Wyman and their four daughters also lived there. His other son Russell Sage Underwood moved to Farmington, Minnesota, and went into agriculture. Frederick died in 1942 at the age of 93 in New York, his body was cremated and the ashes were scattered over the family estate in Wauwatosa. History Born in Wauwatosa, he later moved to New York, but kept his ties to Wauwatosa by donating money and property to various causes. He bought the First Baptist Church building and donated its use to the Wauwatosa Light Guard for use as an armory. In 1914, Frederick Underwood relocated The Original First Baptist Church to the Wauwatosa Cemetery to be used as a memorial chapel. He dedicated the chapel to his parents Reverend and Mrs. Enoch Underwood and the Reverend and Mrs. Luther Clapp of the Congregational Church. Sources *''The Underwood families of America'' (Underwood, Lucien Marcus), published 1913, pages 523–524. Category:Persons of Note Category:Deceased Individuals Category:Wauwatosa Cemetery burials Category:1849 births Category:1942 deaths Category:Founding Fathers of Wauwatosa Category:Wells Fargo Category:Erie Railroad Company